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The British government is refusing to publish a report examining Russian interference in its democratic process, despite widespread calls for its release before the December general election. The move is fueling suspicions that the details could be damaging for the ruling Conservative party.The report by the Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee was completed in March and handed to the prime minister for approval on Oct. 17.  The government insists the report is still awaiting security service approval, but the head of the committee that wrote the report says it is ready for publication.
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Embed” />Copy LinkBritish Refusal to Publish Russia Report Fuels Suspicions of Kremlin LinksThe report examines widespread allegations that Moscow sought to interfere in British democracy, including the 2016 referendum on leaving the European Union, and the 2017 general election.”In the absence of the report, because of that delay, rumor and suspicion circulate,” said Andrew Foxall, a Russia analyst at The Henry Jackson Society.FILE – MP Dominic Grieve, the head of the Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee, is seen at the Conservative Party annual conference in Manchester, Britain, Sept. 30, 2019.Potential embarrassment?The suspicion is that the report could highlight links between Russia and the ruling Conservatives, said Ian Bond of the Center for European Reform in London.”That, I think, says there is something in there that the government feels it would be embarrassed by in an electoral context,” he said. “And I think that’s rather dangerous for our democracy.”But why would Russia seek to promote Britain’s EU exit?”Disruption,” Bond said. “So the more that you can disrupt your adversaries, the stronger you are in relative terms. Once the U.K. leaves the table in the EU, that’s one strong, persuasive voice in favor of the continuation of sanctions gone.”Conservatives dismiss claims the findings could be embarrassing.Foreign Office Minister Christopher Pincher told lawmakers last week that “there is no evidence to suggest that Russia or the Kremlin has successfully engaged in interference in our electoral processes.”The government maintains the report is awaiting security clearance. But the head of the committee that wrote it, Dominic Grieve, said it has already been cleared. Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry of the opposition Labour party told parliament the delay is a conspiracy.”This is nothing less than an attempt to suppress the truth from the public and from parliament and it is an affront to our democracy,” Thornberry said.FILE – Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry speaks during the Labour party annual conference in Brighton, Britain, Sept. 23, 2019.Reports of previous linksThere are reports of past links between the Conservatives and the Kremlin, noted analyst Foxall.”A Kremlin-backed organization called Conservative Friends of Russia was created in 2012 with the help of an operative from the Russian Embassy here in London. It has since become clear that that operative is likely a member of the FSB (Federal Security Service). That organization, that group, gained significant support amongst high profile Tories, members of the Conservative party but collapsed in scandal after it released kompromat, which is to say compromising material, on a Labour MP, Chris Bryant.”In the United States, the Robert Mueller investigation concluded earlier this year that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election. Former Democratic presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton — who lost to Donald Trump — this week questioned the British government’s decision during a visit to London.”I’m dumbfounded that this government won’t release the report about Russian influence because every person who votes in the country deserves to see that report before your election happens,” Clinton told the BBC.Prime Minister Boris Johnson has dismissed suspicions that the report is damaging to his party and says it will be published after the Dec. 12 election.
 
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visits the White House for talks Wednesday with U.S. President Donald Trump, with the two leaders likely to discuss Turkey’s incursion in northern Syria and its purchase of a Russian air defense system.The agenda for the day released by the White House also includes an afternoon joint news conference.The United States and other NATO allies have expressed concern about Turkey’s purchase of the Russian S-400 missile system, saying they do not fit with the alliances defense systems and pose a threat to the U.S. F-35 fighter jet program.  In response, the United States has suspended Turkey’s involvement with the F-35.A senior U.S. official, who spoke to reporters ahead of Erdogan’s visit, said the issue of the missile system is one that Trump “is trying to address head-on” in the talks with Turkey.”As he’s outlined publicly, there’s tremendous upside in this bilateral relationship in economic terms, a key part of which is the F-35 and Turkey’s role and potential role in the F-35 program.  But to get there, we, as allies, need to resolve this issue of the S-400,” the official said.Erdogan spokesman Fahrettin Altun said on Twitter that Turkey has been clear about its reasoning for purchasing the Russian missiles.”Turkey’s need for a missile defense system is urgent. The U.S. must recognize this to prevent the issue from becoming a thorn in our relations. Turkey’s participation in the F-35 program is crucial for our defense partnership,” Altun wrote.A senior U.S. official said another of Trump’s priorities would be the situation in Syria where the United States is chiefly concerned about a potential resurgence of the Islamic State group as well as preventing “humanitarian atrocities against religious and ethnic minorities.”Trump also planned to discuss human rights issues within Turkey as well.
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The chief of Bosnia’s border police warned Tuesday that his guards cannot contain the migratory pressure along the country’s eastern border with Serbia and that the situation could easily escalate and put in danger the overall stability of the politically fragile nation.Zoran Galic told The Associated Press in an interview that securing the nation’s entire 1,600-kilometer (995-mile) border along a popular migration route into Europe was like the “work of Sisyphus.” That was a reference to the Greek mythical hero who was condemned for eternity to push a rock up a mountain only to watch it roll all the way down every time he reaches the top.“We are in a constant struggle to deter migrants, but they never quit,” he said.Describing the scale of the problem, he said:  “We encounter women who are eight months pregnant, juvenile children, and we are doing our best to treat them morally, with respect for all international (human rights) conventions.”Since the start of the year, more than 13,000 migrants have arrived in Bosnia, according to Bosnian government statistics. The impoverished country is unable to provide them with appropriate accommodation and many are left without access to hot meals, showers or proper medical care, to the growing consternation of local communities.In this photo taken Saturday, Nov. 9, 2019, Bosnian border police officers guard migrants after making the illegal crossing from Serbia by the Drina river, the natural border between Bosnia and Serbia, near eastern Bosnian town of Zvornik, Bosnia…Galic said his border police forces is short 1,000 officers and the modern technology required to secure the borders. He said the country only has one officer per every 30 kilometers (19 miles) of border.Bosnia is located along the so-called Balkan route that migrants from the Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa take in hopes of reaching western Europe. The route became more popular nearly three years ago after other countries in the region sealed off their borders.Most migrants arrive in Bosnia from Serbia after moving relatively unimpeded across the poorly guarded border between the two countries. From there they walk northwest to Bosnia’s border with the European Union-member Croatia.  The Bosnian border with both Serbia and Croatia is mostly porous, with rivers, mountains and vast tracts of forest.But Croatia has been taking increasingly efficient steps to prevent cross-border movement, so a growing number of desperate migrants remain stuck in Bosnia, one of the poorest and most volatile countries in Europe.Migrants caught by Bosnian border police officers, after making the illegal crossing from Serbia, described to the AP being smuggled across the Drina River by human traffickers.“I am paying crossing river 3,000 euro. Who take the money? It is smuggler, men smuggler,” said a migrant who identified himself only as Waqar, and said he was a 17-year-old Pakistani.Over the past few months, the high influx of migrants has unleashed acrimony among Bosnia’s squabbling nationalist leaders who represent the often-competing interests of the country’s Bosniak, Croat and Serb ethnic communities.Most notably, Bosnian Serb hard-line leader Milorad Dodik, who is a member of Bosnia’s multi-ethnic joint presidency, has blocked efforts to deploy the army to stem the influx of migrants from Serbia.Dodik is also blocking the deployment of the EU’s border protection agency teams along Bosnia’s border with Croatia, using the crisis to promote his Serbian-first attitude, including by refusing to accommodate any migrants in the country’s highly autonomous Serb-run half.Many Bosnians have sympathy for the asylum seekers, with memories of when many of them sought refuge elsewhere.During the war in Bosnia of 1992-95 — the deadliest of the ethnic wars sparked by the breakup of Yugoslavia — more than 100,000 people died, and more than half the population was forced to flee.
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Poland’s opposition parties elected their candidate as speaker of the Senate on Tuesday, a small victory that allows them to check the power of the populist right-wing ruling party.Senator Tomasz Grodzki was chosen speaker in a 51-48 vote with one abstention during the first sitting of the new parliament that was elected in October. Grodzki hailed the move as a victory for democracy. Until Tuesday’s vote, it was not certain that the opposition parties would manage to take control of the Senate.For the past four years, the ruling Law and Justice party has put through laws giving it much greater power over the judicial system. The European Union has often expressed its concerns that the party was eroding judicial independence, warning that rule of law in the young democracy was on the line.In many cases, with control of both houses of parliament, the party would rush laws through without allowing opposition lawmakers any say.Now, the Senate will be able to slow down and influence, though not block, the passage of laws. Perhaps more importantly, the Senate has the power to appoint the heads of some key state bodies and the opposition — if it maintains its majority — will be able to block the nominations of some ruling party loyalists.Law and Justice has tried to win over some opposition members in Senate, but has so far failed.Earlier Tuesday, the lower house of parliament, also named its speaker — Elzbieta Witek of Law and Justice.Poland’s President Andrzej Duda, right, outlines his vision of a tolerant Poland based on Roman Catholic values in a speech applauded by the populist ruling party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, left, at the gala inauguration of a new four-year term.President Andrzej Duda opened the first day of parliament’s four-year term with a speech that paid homage to Poland’s tradition of being a land of tolerance and a place where many ethnic and religious groups lived for centuries in relative harmony. He also paid tribute to Roman Catholicism and strong family traditions that he credited with preserving the social fabric over a difficult history.The parliamentary election on Oct. 13 gave a second term Law and Justice party, which won nearly 44% of the votes, the highest percentage of any party since Poland returned to democracy 30 years ago.But the election also created some complications for the party and its 70-year-old leader, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, as it continues its plans to reshape the nation.Aside from the loss of the Senate, the ruling party must now contend with the fact that a far-right party, Confederation, got almost 7% of the vote, winning 11 seats in the assembly.Law and Justice had sought to prevent any party arising in parliament to its right. That strategy had led Kaczynski and other leaders to try to appeal to the far right, and they even marched with them on Independence Day in 2018.In another change, a left-wing alliance won 49 seats, after a hiatus of four years, after getting nearly 13% of the vote.
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Venice was hit by the second highest tide recorded in the lagoon city on Tuesday, which flooded its historic basilica and left many of its squares and alleyways deep underwater.Mayor Luigi Brugnaro said he would declare a state of disaster and warned of severe damage.City officials said the tide peaked at 187 cm (6.14 ft) at 10.50 p.m. (2150 GMT), just short of the record 194 cm set in 1966.”The situation is dramatic,” Brugnaro said on Twitter. “We ask the government to help us. The cost will be high. This is the result of climate change.”Saint Mark’s Square was submerged by more than one meter (3.3 ft) of water, while the adjacent Saint Mark’s Basilica was flooded for the sixth time in 1,200 years.Four of those inundations have now come in the last 20 years, most recently in October 2018. There was no immediate word on any damage inside the Church. In 2018, the administrator said the basilica had aged 20 years in a single day.People walk on a catwalk in the flooded St. Mark’s Square during a period of seasonal high water in Venice, Italy, Nov. 12, 2019.Video on social media showed deep waters flowing like a river along one of Venice’s main thoroughfares, while another showed large waves hammering boats moored alongside the Doge’s Palace and surging over the stone sidewalks.”A high tide of 187 cm is going to leave an indelible wound,” Brugnaro said.Much of Italy has been pummelled by torrential rains in recent days, with wide spreading flooding, especially in the southern heel and toe of the country.In Matera, this year’s European Capital of Culture, rain water cascaded through the streets and inundated the city’s famous cave-dwelling district.Further bad weather is forecast for the coming days. 
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The Voice of America’s Russian service produced this documentary about the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. It looks at Berlin then and today through the eyes of those who were there, including an American soldier, a dissident, a politician, a historian and others.
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Turkey’s October military intervention into Syria is increasingly straining relations with its regional allies and neighbors, but the country is pushing back against mounting criticism of its Syrian incursion.In a recent editorial headlined “A threat against the Turkey-Qatar alliance,” the Daily Sabah, which has close ties to the Turkish government, condemned coverage of Turkey’s Syrian military operation by Qatari-owned news broadcaster Al-Jazeera English. The editorial called for the firing of journalists, warning of long-term consequences to Turkish-Qatar relations.”Although the two countries see eye to eye on many issues, any sustainable partnership must be firmly rooted in mutual interests. Without reciprocity, any relationship is at risk of falling apart,” read last week’s editorial.The Turkish military operation is on pause after agreements were brokered by Washington and Moscow with Ankara.With Turkish relations strained with Saudi Arabia, Israel and Egypt, Qatar is one of Ankara’s few remaining regional allies.”Turkish-Qatar relations are built on good foundations,” said Mithat Rende, the former Turkish ambassador to Qatar. “But this [Sabah editorial] is probably a warning from the [Turkish] presidency, ‘You should behave. You should show respect.'”  FILE – Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, left, welcomes Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani before their talks in Istanbul, Nov. 26, 2018.Ankara is strongly backing Qatar in an ongoing regional embargo led by Saudi Arabia against the emirate. Last year, Turkey deployed troops to Qatar, a move widely seen to prevent any Saudi military action.Rende says Ankara’s anger with Qatar is more deep-seated than Al-Jazeera broadcasting.”The present Qatari criticism is also probably because of the Arab League heavily criticizing the Turkish intervention, which was a very big disappointment for Ankara,” said Rende. “The Arab League, when they get together, the No. 1 sentiment is Arab nationalism. They do this with border issues and territory issues.”Turkey is a former imperial power in the region, whose Ottoman empire ruled much of the Arab world. That bitter historical legacy, analysts say, continues to color Arab perception of Turkish actions, particularly military ones in the region.Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan dismissed criticism by the Arab League.The “Arab League is holding meetings against Turkey,” Erdogan said. “One has to ask the members of the Arab League why they do not support the refugees in Turkey, who are mostly Arabs.”FILE – In this June 14, 2015 file photo taken from the Turkish side of the border between Turkey and Syria, in Akcakale, Sanliurfa province, southeastern Turkey, thousands of Syrian refugees walk in order to cross into Turkey.Turkey currently hosts over 3.5 million Syrian refugees. Along with securing Turkey’s border, Erdogan is seeking to create a so-called “safe zone” large enough and secure enough to return up to 2 million Syrians currently living in Turkey to Syria.
 
Arab concerns over Ankara’s military presence in Syria are likely to heighten with Erdogan indicating a long-term military presence.”We won’t quit before the last terrorist leaves the region,” Erdogan told a group of journalists Nov. 8. “This is one dimension of the issue. Secondly, we will not quit before other countries leave. We are in favor of Syria’s unity and solidarity. We never want it disintegrated.”Such comments will also likely cause unease in Tehran. Iran insists that only foreign powers invited by the Damascus government should be present in Syria.”The imperative now is to end the [Turkish] incursion into Syria,” tweeted Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif.Erdogan reacted angrily to the Iranian comments.”Some of the statements about the operation have caused serious sadness to me,” Erdogan said last month. “Not [Iranian President Hassan] Rouhani himself, but some of his close friends have issued oppositional statements. Mr. Rouhani should have prevented these statements.”Erdogan also pointed out that in the past Ankara helped Iran cope with sanctions imposed by the international community over its nuclear energy program.Analysts suggest that Erdogan’s comment is a thinly veiled warning to Tehran, given that Iran is again facing powerful trade sanctions.But with Ankara giving little sign of any early Syrian withdrawal, and even threatening new military operations, regional diplomatic pressure is only likely to grow.”The issue is how Moscow, Tehran, and [Syrian President Bashar al-] Assad try to persuade the further accession of Turkish troops inside Syria,” said International relations professor Huseyin Bagci of Ankara’s Middle East Technical University. “At the end of the day, this is Syrian territory. Turkey no doubt has undertaken a rightful operation for security reasons, but the limits of the security concern will be defined by Assad, Tehran and Moscow.”Erdogan insists he is ready to face down regional pressure and criticism to achieve his ultimate goals in Syria.
 
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With cries of “Viva Felipe!” and “Viva Espana!” Cubans greeted King Felipe in Old Havana, the first state visit ever by a Spanish monarch to Cuba, Spain’s former colony turned Communist-run nation.Earlier in the day, Felipe and his wife Letizia laid flowers at the monument in Havana to Jose Marti, a symbol of Cuba’s struggle for independence from Spain, before meeting with President Miguel Diaz-Canel in the Palace of the Revolution.The king then held closed-door conversations with Diaz-Canel during which they agreed to further develop positive bilateral political and economic relations, according to Cuban state-run media. Spain is Cuba’s third-largest trading partner and one of its top investors.The visit illustrates the normalization of Europe’s relations with Cuba even as the United States doubles down on a decades-old policy of seeking to force the government to reform by tightening its crippling trade embargo.Some Spanish politicians and Cuban dissidents have criticized the trip, saying it legitimizes Cuba’s one-party system at a time of increased repression.Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel and Spain’s King Felipe review an honor guard during a ceremony at the Revolution Palace in Havana, Cuba, Nov. 12, 2019.Yet many locals are grateful for what they see as a sign of support for the Cuban people, struggling with a crisis in the inefficient state-run economy in the wake of a decline of support from ally Venezuela and increased U.S. sanctions.”Spain remains our parent nation and we identify a lot with it, so their visit is very important to us,” said Havana resident Maria Pazos, whose paternal great-grandparents came from Catalonia. “It’s also a reaffirmation that we are not alone, that we have support.”Historic and family bonds have long underpinned Cuban-Spanish relations, sometimes regardless of the political flavor of the moment. Revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, for example, whose father was a Spanish immigrant, had surprisingly good relations with former Spanish dictator Francisco Franco.The royal visit was timed so the couple could take part in the celebrations of the 500th anniversary of the founding of the Cuban capital by a Spanish conquistador. Havana was once one of the most important cities in the Spanish empire, providing a port for its treasure fleet.Diaz-Canel’s wife Lis Cuesta took Letizia on a tour of Old Havana that has received a facelift since the 1990s and is considered an architectural jewel due to its mix of colonial, Art Deco and neoclassical styles.Felipe later joined Letizia at the cathedral, which previously housed the remains of explorer Christopher Columbus, whose encounter with Cuba in the service of the Spanish crown led to it being colonized by the Spaniards. The remains of Columbus were moved to Spain after Cuba became independent of that country in the 1890s.
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Moldova’s government coalition between a pro-European group and a Russian-backed party collapsed Tuesday after losing a no-confidence vote in parliament.Prime Minister Maia Sandu’s five-month-old government lost the vote as 63 of 101 lawmakers supported the no-confidence motion initiated by the Socialists, her own coalition partners.The parties in parliament now have three months to form a new government majority. Otherwise, an early election will be held.Bordered by Romania and Ukraine, Moldova is one of the poorest countries in Europe, plagued by corruption and political turmoil. The country of 2.7 million has been a politically strategic area for the West and Russia since it won independence after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.Relations between Sandu’s ACUM group and the Socialists deteriorated over her plan to take control of the process of nominating the country’s prosecutor general, which Sandu says is key to her efforts to fight corruption. The Socialists wanted a special commission to choose the prosecutor.A few hundred Sandu supporters protested her ouster at the legislature but no violence was reported.“Today, it wasn’t just the government that defends the interests of people that was betrayed, but every citizen hoping that justice will soon be done and their lives will be better,” Sandu said on her Facebook page.In her speech before the no-confidence vote, Sandu praised her government’s anti-corruption efforts but said its short time in office was not enough for major changes.“The only worsening of the economic situation is for those who have stopped their corruption schemes,” Sandu said. “Citizens did not expect miracles in five months. They understand and appreciate a responsible government, consisting of honest ministers, who came to these posts to make people’s lives better.”Sandu, a Harvard-educated former World Bank adviser who has also served as the country’s education minister, took office in June after a long political stalemate that followed February’s parliamentary election. She also had to overcome legal challenges by opponents questioning her government’s legitimacy.
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French authorities have closed beaches in southwest France as packages of cocaine and other drugs continue to wash up daily along the Atlantic coast, with nearly 900 kilogrammes discovered since mid-October, a prosecutor said Tuesday.Officials say the cocaine is extremely pure at some 83 percent, warning people who find the packages not to touch them but to warn the police.That has not stopped some from trying to get their hands on the drugs, whose street value would be in the millions of euros, prompting police to close beaches and start carrying out patrols.On Monday, a 17-year-old was caught with five kilos of cocaine at Lacanau, a closed-off surfing beach near the southwestern city of Bordeaux — he had come from Toulouse, a three-hour drive away.A half-dozen other beaches in the area have been closed as well, with police stopping walkers for searches and also checking cars leaving nearby parking lots.A police helicopter was also being used along the 125-kilometre stretch between Cap Ferret and Soulac-sur-Mer, which includes the Lacanau beach.A woman who gave her name as Martine failed to notice the closure signs at the Porge beach on Monday, when officers told her and a friend to leave.”When we turned around we saw a package next to the water,” she said, saying they alerted the police, who estimated it weighed some four kilos before sealing it in a plastic bag.”It would have been tempting to take it, but we’re honest!” she told AFP.’Very dangerous'”We’ve recovered 872 kilos,” or 1,920 pounds, Philippe Astruc, the prosecutor in the western city of Rennes, where officials are coordinating the searches, told AFP in a statement.It was a sharp jump from just two days ago, when 763 kilos were reported.”Intense surveillance has been set up by different services, notably the customs agency, all along the French coast,” Astruc’s office said Sunday.”In this form it’s a very dangerous product that could cause an overdose,” it said.Officials have reported the drugs turning up on beaches near Nantes all the way to the resort town of Biarritz, more than 500 kilometers (300 miles) to the south.French investigators are working with European counterparts as well as the US Drug Enforcement Agency to try to determine why the drugs are washing up.”There are several hypotheses, but for the moment we think it’s likely they were jettisoned because of a mechanical problem or during a storm,” Astruc said in a statement on Sunday.The Sud-Ouest newspaper reported over the weekend that some packages found on the beach at Arcachon, southwest of Bordeaux,were marked “Diamante” or “Brillante.”Packages of cocaine marked with the same words also reportedly washed up in Florida during hurricane Dorian in September, it said.Police seized a record or more than 140 tons of cocaine across Europe in 2017, the most recent data available from the EU’s European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction, published in June.Most was seized in Belgium and Spain, long the main port of entry for the drug, and its purity has increased markedly over the past ten years, the agency said.
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Danish police have begun carrying out border checks at Denmark’s crossings with Sweden after a series of shootings and explosions around Copenhagen that Danish authorities say were carried out by people from Sweden.
 
Police spokesman Jens Jespersen told The Associated Press on Tuesday that at checks on the Oresund Bridge between Copenhagen and the Swedish city of Malmo, officers have “a particular focus on cross-border crime involving explosives, weapons and drugs.” He also says authorities are stopping cars to have “a peak at who is inside.”
 
The controls are also being carried out at ferry ports.
 
They follow 13 explosions in Copenhagen since February. A June shooting in the city killed two Swedish citizens. Also, a shooting Saturday in Malmo killed a 15-year-old boy and critically wounded another teenager.
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